Giving priesthood blessings

Zlatan, This is a very personal topic for me, since some of my most intense and enlightening experiences have been associated with Priesthood blessings. I have had at least three that simply can’t be explained in any way other than the opening of the heavens and having divine messages delivered through my mouth. (I really mean that, and I guarantee that nobody could construct a reasonable argument with that conclusion if I did share the details.)

Having said that, I also believe strongly that there is a “gift” associated with healings. I don’t mean a gift to be able to heal anyone of everything, and I don’t even mean a “gift of healing power”. What I mean is a gift to be able to ascertain the will of God in situations where the person will be healed or not healed – but where God has something He wants said regardless. I’m not certain it is a permanent and constant gift, but I am sure it is a targeted gift in those circumstances when He really does want to speak directly to the person (or even those listening).

I really don’t know how to describe it properly, but I do believe in it. In my own case, there have been lots of times when I simply have not felt any particular inspiration – where I have not felt like a conduit for His words. In those cases, I simply have stated that I am the one blessing the person as a Priesthood holder (“I bless you . . .”) and hoped that my sincere hope would be granted – and I have avoided making specific promises about healing. However, there have been lots of times when I have felt prompted to make certain less-ambiguous but non-astounding statements – and often I have seen them fulfilled. Those instances could be explained away as just the natural healing process, and perhaps they were, but I take comfort in them, nonetheless. That, in and of itself, makes giving blessings worthwhile – and the possibility that God will, for whatever reason, rend the veil once every few hundred blessings makes the concept and the practice sublime to me.

I think ALL worthy individuals (inside or outside the Church) have the right and ability to bless others and pronounce promises of hope and faith, dependent on the will of God (whether through the Priesthood or not), but I am deeply thankful for my own experiences where the heavens opened and I spoke the word of God. It’s hard to explain what that feels like, but I’m glad I waded through the typical ones enough to experience the atypical ones.

I have been thinking about this post, and I decided to share one of the experiences with everyone – largely because of an insight from my oldest son Christmas morning. I hope the decision to share this was inspired and helps someone, somehow.

When our second son was born, he was 19 days early. There were NO complications, and he was released from the hospital without any delays. He was small, but he appeared to be perfectly normal and healthy. When he received his baby blessing, he was told something that really jumped out. Paraphrasing, he was told that none of the physical trials he would face in his life would have the power to keep him from his appointed mission in life.

At the time, I had absolutely no idea why I said those words. There was no indication he would have any physical trials, and I certainly didn’t go into it thinking that I should “bless him” to have lots of physical trials. It was a really weird experience for me after the blessing ended and I realized what I had said.

Fast forward 18 years. Of our six kids, he is the only one with severe and constant allergy issues. He is the only one who required speech therapy as a pre-schooler. He is the only one to have had major, emergency surgery (burst appendix at the age of 11 that almost killed him) – the only one to develop a serious medical disability (Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes at the age of 15). Our kids and his friends joke regularly about a pool to guess which organ will fail next and when it will happen. (When my daughter joked about him “having a heart attack” over being accepted into one of his top college choices last month, a friend responded with, “Oh, no, not another organ!”)

On Christmas morning, while we were reading about the wise men and discussing the possibilities of when and how and where and why the star appeared – and how it was ONLY a sign for those who recognized its significance, my oldest son said something that blew me away. He said, in effect, “The star for the wise men was like Jeff’s appendicitis and diabetes. It showed the wise men that the prophecy that had been given really did come from God, just like Jeff’s health problems (his “physical trials”) show us that his baby blessing really did come from God.”

I am grateful God reached down and put those words in my mouth 18 years ago, because they really are a comfort to my wife, a blessing to Jeff, and a testimony to our entire family. When Jeff’s appendix burst and later when he was diagnosed with diabetes, the hospital staff was amazed at how calmly we reacted – but they didn’t realize we had been prepared for those things to happen years before. They really were nothing more than our own star – confirming prophecy that had been given in his baby blessing.

Hi Zlatan,

Like you, I have been newly poking around here as well. As a female, I can’t really offer much on giving blessings. However, I can offer the experience of one who has only received blessings and only ever been taught to receive blessings. I have always found priesthood blessings of the ordinary every-day kind to be very comforting. (Patriarchal blessing is another animal all together, but everyday blessings, I’m good there!) A few months ago, when I was planning to leave the country for the first time, and I was going by myself, I sought out a priesthood blessing. I was very much in the middle of all my doubts, questions and concerns, including concerns about the priesthood. Still, I had always felt peace, and had always connected priesthood blessings with good, comforting, experiences. It’s not that I think that they have any magical power to grant me safety while I am gallivanting across an unknown country. They are more like a marker. A way for me, in a formalized way, to mark, “What I am about to embark on is important to me, and I want to seek the guidance of God as I embark on this journey.” That journey can be a healing process, new year, trip, thought process, or any number of things.

Now, granted, I may not fall under the category of a “true believing sister.” Still, I would like to share my thoughts on,

…sometimes I even start thinking about what to say beforehand….I have strong doubts the actual authority of the priesthood I bear had any effect (I’ve never felt directed by the spirit in giving a blessing

First, I have no concern with a brother thinking over a blessing before offering it. Even pre-faith-crisis I would not have found this offensive, as long as he giving the blessing was facing the entire process from preparation through blessing with an open and broken heart. As one receiving a blessing, I feel like an active participant. I am receiving the blessing, and those things that speak to me are true, other things (true or not) may fall to the wayside.

My second thought of this deals more directly with my understanding of s/he receiving the blessing as an active participant. One of the things that I truly find beautiful about the gospel, as taught by the LDS, is the absolute dependence that we have upon each other as a spiritual family. I realize that others here may find that principal offensive, but for me it is lovely. When I ask for a blessing, I am asking for aid in receiving and interpreting a connection with God in a particular and ritualistic manner. There are many many ways that I can ask people for aid in this, and a priesthood blessing is just one of them. It is one way that I particularly tend to find strength, and thus continue to participate in. I am not concerned that a blessing be perfect, I am not concerned that you be the mouthpiece of God. I am concerned that you care enough about me as a fellow sister to minister to me in this particular way.

I am not sure if all of that makes sense. Please feel free to ask for clarification. It will help me to order my thoughts better and hopefully offer something to someone else. Basically, what I am trying to say is that I view priesthood blessings as having two functions. The primary function is to sustain and bind together the human family. The secondary function is to commune with God, which I believe stems from the first.

To Ray and everybody else:

This reminds me of one of my new slogans: “There is a lot more going on around us than meets the eye.”

KM